The rising use of know-how in agriculture – agtech, or agri-tech – is bringing elevated crop yields, decrease working prices, and extra options for meals insecure communities and environmentally sustainable farming.
Extra inside agricultural capabilities imply much less reliance on exterior meals sources, sources which can or will not be open, out there, or pleasant sooner or later to the following.
One Canadian firm has taken the agtech title and the idea to coronary heart – primarily based in Dryden, Ontario, AgriTech North just isn’t solely an agtech agency, but in addition a social enterprise, one which sees using new agricultural applied sciences and new farming strategies as key to not simply rising meals and different agricultural merchandise in Canada’s North, however to constructing cultural and neighborhood resiliency.
AgriTech North has developed a proprietary greenhouse insulation envelope that extends the rising season. AgriTech North picture.
AgriTech North’s personal development is spurred by building of latest, state-of-the-art greenhouses the place cutting-edge know-how will assist optimize plant development and cut back vitality consumption as the provision of recent, regionally grown leafy greens in Northern Ontario will increase.
A 2,400-square-foot greenhouse will incorporate cutting-edge ag-tech, together with a proprietary greenhouse insulation envelope the corporate has developed, in addition to a non-refrigerant-based HVAC system sourced from one in all its agtech companions.
AgriTech North developed its personal patented answer for holding a greenhouse good and heat and productive, even within the chilly northern local weather, by utilizing thermal insulation between the glass panes of a standard greenhouse.
The corporate’s founder and CEO, Benjamin Feagin Jr. MSc, not too long ago reported that his idea was validated in a joint analysis mission between Collège Boréal and Sheridan Faculty, a serious step ahead as AgriTech North continues to refine its patented greenhouse know-how.
In assessments carried out at its 10,000-square-foot Residing Lab facility, AgriTech’s patented glass was proven to cut back the quantity of warmth misplaced (a serious drawback in conventional greenhouses). AgriTech assessments met targets of lower than two watts of warmth loss per sq. metre; that’s stated to be about half the speed of warmth lack of common double-paned greenhouse glass.
So, it’s an environment friendly and cost-effective answer, resulting in a discount of maybe half the conventional heating prices. The glass is claimed to have a lifespan of greater than 50 years, nicely above that of typical greenhouse glass (usually round ten years) or the quick, one-year lifespan of plastic or polycarbonate alternate options.
Based mostly partially on the profitable testing, AgriTech North’s plans obtained a considerable increase from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Company (NOHFC) as a part of its funding association with the provincial authorities — $500,000 to ramp up manufacture of the distinctive greenhouses over the following three years.
AgriTech North greenhouses (they’re operated with AI and different data-gathering strategies that observe crop well being and development whereas managing system operations) additionally make full use of liquid-cooled energy-efficients.
Agnetix horticulture lighting methods are water-cooled for environment friendly and price efficient operation. Agnetix picture.
“The Agnetix water-cooled system and its capability to seize and redistribute 100 per cent of the fixture waste warmth is what actually caught our consideration,” Feagin stated of the choice to make use of the know-how. “That is vitality we paid for that usually goes out the window with air-cooled lights. With a seamless interface to the Agnetix system, we’ll have the opportunity automate our state-of-the-art HVAC platform to totally understand the following stage of excessive effectivity data-driven cultivation.”
The corporate has additionally obtained $100,000 to buy and set up a clear vitality system from Toronto-based Enersion. Enersion says its on-site tri-generation system (developed by college students and researchers on the College of Toronto) converts photo voltaic radiation to cooling, heating and electrical energy, and may produce 4 occasions extra vitality than photo voltaic panels alone.
AgriTech North has absolutely benefitted from vital funding assist and collaboration from main authorities, monetary, non-profit, and tutorial establishments, together with the Financial institution of Montreal, NOHFC, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Collège Boréal, Rural Agri-Innovation Community (RAIN), and others.
Along with its personal tech developments and retail companies, AgriTech North helps construct a digital infrastructure to assist a regional meals system. AgriTech North picture.
The corporate seems to be ahead to a time when its greenhouses will create new industrial alternatives for distant communities, serving to not solely present meals assist for the area people, but in addition producing revenues from an financial system that reverses the conventional agricultural trendlines by rising within the north and promoting to the south.
Along with its personal tech developments and retail companies (the corporate sells meals stuffs on-line and thru a community of regional retailers), AgriTech North helps construct a digital infrastructure to assist a regional meals system. It has joined different growth networks, together with the Rural Agri-innovation Community (RAIN), to construct a resilient farm and meals sector in Northern Ontario by progressive analysis and agricultural know-how growth initiatives.
The Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) is supporting AgriTech North on this mission by the Digitalization Competence Centre (DCC), which offers funding and programming to assist Ontario SMEs higher perceive their know-how wants and information their digital transformation journey.
One other approach AgriTech North is addressing these challenges is thru a unique mission with RAIN, Collège Boréal, and Really Northern Farms. The workforce was not too long ago awarded $1 million from the Homegrown Innovation Problem; AgriTech was one in all 11 firms chosen to develop options that would future-proof meals manufacturing in Canada.
AgriTech North isn’t any stranger to successful awards: as a tech start-up, it gained $100,000 from the enterprise pitch competitors present Bears’ Lair on APTV. Feagin has additionally been named an Rising Indigenous Entrepreneur by the RBC Rock My Enterprise program, receiving $10,000 to assist AgriTech North.
“We’re on a mission to be rising recent produce … year-round, contributing to the decision of meals insecurity all through Canadian rural and distant communities,” Feagin described. He says strategic alliances, supportive companion initiatives and newly-developed agricultural applied sciences, will assist his firm attain a big purpose: cut back recent produce prices for Indigenous populations in Canada’s Far North by 25 per cent or extra, whereas growing meals availability and enterprise sustainability.
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Later this fall, Canada’s growers, suppliers, and analysis companions will convene in Niagara Falls for the 2025 Canadian Greenhouse Convention, the place the most recent made-in-Canada agri-tech options can be mentioned by industrial greenhouse flower, vegetable, hashish, berry, and nursery growers, amongst different events.
The convention known as “Harvesting Resilience.”
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